He has worked for the betterment of our district. When the administration was prepared to compromise on the budget by cutting funding for college loans, he rallied others in Congress to refuse the deal and protected low-income students from losing an opportunity to get an education.

State Representative District 40

Agustin Hernandez

The best candidate is Agustin Hernandez, his reasoning for running and his proposals on his website are very convincing and well thought out.

As I was doing research for this I am looking these people up. I have met most of them, Mr Betancourt doesn’t even have a website or it is hard to find. Terry Canalez is an attorney with no real experience or valuable convincing reason being elected. Robert Pena has the experience, he was in a school district and has been part of several business organizations, he would be the candidate that would most likely care for business interest most of all.

Referendum #1 – FOR

Reads:

Any graduate of a Texas high school, who has lived in the state for at least three years and lived here continuously for the last year, should be eligible for in-state tuition at state supported colleges and universities and given the opportunity to earn legal status through a higher education or military service.

If these students did the work, made the grades, and have lived in Texas for a long time they should be able to go to college. When they graduate, they would become great additions to our state. If they are going to college they are not criminals. Education should be a universal right

Referendum #2 – FOR

Reads:

Because a college education is increasingly necessary for jobs that allow our citizens to achieve middle class lifestyles and become the entrepreneurs who create the jobs that our economy relies on, we call on the Texas Legislature to fund colleges and universities such that tuition and fees can be affordable to all Texans.

Education is a social equalizer and helps people greatly increase their ability to progress. Students are graduating with greater amounts of debt.

The Texas legislature cut a lot of money to education last year in the 2011 congressional session. Colleges have been affected; they have had to cut down the number of teacher and other areas of school which affects students.

We need to invest in our education to have better inventors, teachers, doctors, scientists, etc. That will bring progress to our state and country.

Referendum #3 – FOR

Reads

Should the Texas Legislature allow the people of Texas to vote to legalize casino gambling with all funds generated being used only for education?

We need to keep the money in Texas, people gamble when they do they have to go spend all that money in Las Vegas or other locations, we should keep the money here.

The money needed to support our education system needs to come from somewhere and since corporations don’t want to pay taxes some institution must.

It absence of the Legislature’s willingness to provide needed income to the State, this is an alternative that should be acceptable.

The clock is ticking. Every second, it seems, someone in the world takes on more debt. The idea of a debt clock for an individual nation is familiar to anyone who has been to Times Square in New York, where the American public shortfall is revealed. Our clock shows the global figure for all (or almost all) government debts in dollar terms.

Does it matter? After all, world governments owe the money to their own citizens, not to the Martians. But the rising total is important for two reasons. First, when debt rises faster than economic output (as it has been doing in recent years), higher government debt implies more state interference in the economy and higher taxes in the future. Second, debt must be rolled over at regular intervals. This creates a recurring popularity test for individual governments, rather as reality TV show contestants face a public phone vote every week. Fail that vote, as the Greek government did in early 2010, and the country can be plunged into imminent crisis. So the higher the global government debt total, the greater the risk of fiscal crisis, and the bigger the economic impact such crises will have.

Hartmann: If Obama Doesn’t Want to Lead the Revolution – Young People Will

Anonymous: Occupy The Planet

This is the revolution that they – and even older Americans – hoped for when Barack Obama pledged to “fundamentally change the United States and the world” when he was elected President in 2008. But so far – this pledge has been unfulfilled. Turns out – Barack Obama was not that much of a revolutionary. But ultimately – it was never about him – it was about us – and in particular it was about the young people – because all revolutions – even Reagan‘s – don’t originate from one man – they originate from the people – from the bottom up. From Jefferson to Lincoln – and from FDR to Reagan – these men who presided over great changes in America didn’t create revolutions – they simply seized control of a nation pregnant with revolution and oversaw the transformation – and in some cases guided it. If President Obama discovers his inner revolutionary and steps forward with that voice and message and behavior, he’ll get re-elected – and then he will have to carry forward with a revolution. On the other hand, if President Obama doesn’t want to be a revolutionary – if he doesn’t want to take on the banksters – if he doesn’t take on and actually reverse Reagan’s counter-revolution – that’s fine – because the young people assembled in Manhattan – and all over the nation – will.
It’s already started…

Remember: every billion dollars in war spending protected by the deficit committee costs us at least 3,200 jobs that would have created if that money were spent elsewhere. Help us tell Congress, “We need those jobs!”

The budget agreement Congress passed this week is a bad deal for our country—especially working people. It will make it even harder to solve our country’s biggest crisis—the jobs crisis.

The AFL-CIO—and the entire labor movement along with our community partners and allies—is committed to putting people back to work. And we’re determined to protect and strengthen workers’ rights so people have the opportunity to get good jobs that provide a pathway to the middle class.

Will you add your voice to our petition and help shift our national debate?

Americans agree—we need jobs. When asked in a poll last week whether Congress and the president should focus on the federal budget deficit or jobs, 67 percent of the public said “jobs.”(1)

America needs to stop wasting time on manufactured political debates that will make our economy worse. According to economists, the recent deal to raise the debt ceiling will undermine economic growth and job creation across the board and make our fragile economy worse.(2)

We need to demand politicians and major media outlets focus on our jobs crisis. And congressional Republicans in particular need to hear that message. Last November, they campaigned on jobs, jobs, jobs. But then, they forced us to waste months on raising the debt ceiling—and finally forced a “solution” to the manufactured debt crisis that will destroy jobs.(1)

The only solution to our jobs crisis is a national jobs strategy.Outside of Washington, job creation is at the top of everyone’s agenda. Only in this topsy-turvy Alice in Wonderland place are long-term deficits more urgent than massive unemployment. We’re years into a jobs crisis with no end in sight. It’s time our leaders and the media started paying attention.

P.S. This August, when members of Congress get back home and away from the Washington, D.C., bubble, AFL-CIO working families activists will show up and demand they work to solve the jobs crisis. And we’ll keep demanding major media outlets cover the jobs crisis in America—and help them understand that we can’t cut our way to prosperity. Will you add your voice?